Wheeled machines often achieve locomotion by applying output shafts of motors to a transmission. For example, a wheeled robot may include multiple motors intended to facilitate locomotion. However, in this example, the output shafts of these motors may rotate at very high speeds with very little torque. As a result, this wheeled robot may be unable to move at all unless the motors are geared down by way of a transmission such that the output shafts of the motors rotate at slower speeds with increased torque.
Unfortunately, while transmissions may be able to gear down motors to facilitate locomotion of wheeled machines, traditional transmissions may also introduce a number of undesirable features and/or considerations into the design of such wheeled machines. For example, a traditional transmission may include one or more gears that consume a lot of physical space and/or add too much weight to the load of a small wheeled robot. As a result, the traditional transmission may exceed the limited size, power, and/or load constraints of a particular design of the small wheeled robot.
As another example, a traditional transmission may introduce and/or add a certain monetary cost to the design of a wheeled robot. As a result, the manufacturer of the small robot may need to pass on this monetary cost to consumers, thereby potentially harming the manufacturer's likelihood of success and/or discouraging certain consumers from purchasing the wheeled robot.
The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for apparatuses, systems, and methods for achieving magnetically harnessed locomotion of wheeled machines.